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Rakuten/Buy.com Using Tradoria To Spearhead Into Germany

The mysterious Land of the Rising Sun: The Japanese online giant Rakuten is spearheading their entry into Germany not with a Unister, United Internet or Ciao.com, but with the relatively small e-commerce platform Tradoria (see press release, PDF).

Rakuten first popped up on the international e-commerce scene when they bought Buy.com in the USA and Priceminister in France in short succession. The two takeovers were valued at $250 million and 200 million euro respectively.

Rakuten gives an impression of disorientation when it comes to their European expansion. Already their market entry into Europe via France was, mildly put, a strange step. And now Tradoria for Germany?

This is of course a great development for Tradoria’s founding team from the quaint German town of Bamberg, as well as for its long time investors. But strategically speaking, when taking into account what Rakuten could have brought into the game, it numbs out some of the original concern that the Asian giant is coming into Europe with a strong expansion force.

Local Tradoria competitors Yatego and Hitmeister have been supported by Acton Capital and Tiger Global respectively.